John Locke's Second Treatise on
Government, published in England in 1689,articulated the
foundational ideas of representative democracy that would launch
the American Repubic ninety-eight years later. In fact,
Thomas Jefferson would copy parts of the Declaration of
Independence directly off the pages of Locke's essay.

Locke also outlined a theory of civil
society based on natural rights, and his essays on man's natural
rights to life, liberty, and property, formed the intellectual
backbone of the American revolution. Much of the Declaration
of Independence is taken directly from Locke's writings, either
verbatim or in its ideas.